when you ask for a trim...

i love lilacs.

although their life is short-lived, it is deliciously fragrant and beautiful...and enjoyed immensely by yours truly. much to my delight two years ago, i realized our home is full of lilac trees. or are they bushes? it remains to be seen, because the previous owner was a structural engineer, not a gardener. cool for the addition he put on the house. not cool for the rest of the grounds.

i'm no expert on plants, trees, flowers, and the like. i only aspire to be. i read and research when it comes to these things, because i am very aware that my thumb is not green. even if green is my favorite color.

enter: my dad, ray, one night last week. he had stopped by to see the backyard (that post is coming soon, too) and since my dad is a project kind of guy (apple didn't fall far from the tree, eh?), and i mentioned pruning the tremendously overgrown tree, seen here below, he offered to help dave (read: he thinks he is the only one who knows how to do things "right" so he inserted himself into the project quickly. especially because it involved chainsaws, and he loves chainsaws).

this is my lilac tree on the right.
actually, this was my lilac tree.

things seem to be going well. branches are being trimmed, i'm getting excited about shaping the tree better so i can reach the blooms and see some new growth...

eli's helping his "gp" (of course, he needed his own hand saw and ladder to work on the maple tree)...we're having a splendid good time (leave me alone, i get really excited when projects get started AND finished).


my dad's got his american flag bandanna, dead limbs are dropping, i am well pleased with the progress...

piper's loving it. nothing like a loud chainsaw and branches crashing to the ground. haha, she's hilarious...

"mom- this is NUTS!"

and then...

i take piper inside to start dinner, and when i come back out to check on the boys...one of the branches i had wanted trimmed had been cut off, so my lilac tree looked ridiculous. i had to have them take the tree all the way down to 3 feet. so instead of my 1/3, 1/3, 1/3 pruning approach...

i ended up with what is considered a hard prune:

yup.
there she is, in all her glory.
it's like when you go to the hairdresser for a trim, and she cuts off 10 inches. not exactly what you asked for.

luckily my husband and father were gracious with me when i berated them for destroying my tree. i don't know what got into me. i mean, it's a tree...it will grow back.

it's just going to take a few years.
ohhhh lordy.